<p>Does applying Single-Choice Early Action improve an applicants chances? This is the program used by schools like Harvard, Yale, and Princeton, amongst others... Despite the fact that SCEA acceptance rates are higher at these schools, I do understand that a large part of that is due to recruited athletes and legacies applying early.</p>
<p>However, say we have a student. Let's name her Student A (totally hypothetical... doesn't represent anyone in specific). Student A is a borderline candidate for application--one that will be debated heavily by Ivy League admissions committees. She has strong SAT scores, strong grades, strong extracurriculars, and a fairly good essay, but is clearly not one of those candidates that is so strong in any one area as to merit immediate acceptance. She is not a legacy or under-represented minority, or for that matter, not even a student from a low-income background. She is completely unhooked.</p>
<p>Are Student A's chance of getting accepted better if she applies SCEA at a school like Harvard or Princeton or Yale? Or does the advantage of applying SCEA matter in differing amounts at different schools (perhaps it helps at Princeton, but not at Yale?)? Or does it simply not matter at all?</p>
<p>As far as I am aware only Princeton, Harvard, Stanford and Yale have SCEA and for those you should not assume that it creates any great advantage. Though the percentage of SCEA applicants who get admitted at those colleges is somewhat higher than the percentage of regular admission, the explanation given by Yale is probably the same for all four:</p>
<p>“Applying Single-Choice Early Action does not increase the likelihood of being admitted to Yale. Historically, the rate of admission among early applicants has been higher than the overall admission rate because many of our strongest candidates, from a wide range of backgrounds and interests, apply early. We therefore offer this advice: Apply for Single-Choice Early Action if you want to receive a decision in mid-December and you are confident of the credentials you will be presenting to the admissions committee early in your senior year. An Early Action applicant must meet the same criteria for admission as an applicant in the regular pool. A thoughtful college search and a careful assessment of your readiness to present a strong application as early as November 1, are key. Candidates who need more time, for whatever reason, will be better served by our Regular Decision process.”</p>
<p>(I think Tulane has SCEA as well (though I don’t know much about it…).)</p>
<p>However, my question now turns to the fact that I have heard admissions officers say before that the first “250 application essays are a lot more exciting to read than the last 1000.”</p>
<p>With this in mind, I wonder (even if there is no explicitly stated benefit to applying SCEA) if admissions officers will be bound to look at SCEA applicants in a slightly “fresher” light… Thoughts?</p>